The Exercise Coach franchise unit economics
The Exercise Coach franchisees run small-format strength and conditioning studios that sell coached sessions as memberships and session plans.
The Exercise Coach franchise at a glance
Across 206 studios trading the whole of 2025, gross sales averaged $304,317 against four cost lines totaling $212,557, 69.8% of revenue before royalty, technology, insurance, card fees or the owner’s own pay.
The Exercise Coach franchisees averaged $304,317 of sales in 2025, with a median of $295,870, according to Item 19 of The Exercise Coach’s 2026 FDD, issued 20 April 2026. The 206 in that group are 95%* of The Exercise Coach’s 217 locations. Fees paid to The Exercise Coach come to about 7%* of sales.
- An Exercise Coach franchise costs $262,735 to $481,369 to open, including a $49,500 initial franchise fee, according to the brand's 2026 FDD.
- The Exercise Coach charges a royalty of 6% of sales and a 1% brand fund contribution.
- 44% of reporting Exercise Coach locations reached the average.
- Work out The Exercise Coach's fees at your own sales with the minimum fee calculator.
These figures come from The Exercise Coach's 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, as the brand reported them, and were read by Averan Advisors.
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Talk to Averan → Move your books and accounting to Averan →- Marketing, wages, rent and utilities take $212,557 of an average $304,317 of sales. That is 69.8%, leaving 30.2% before royalty, technology, insurance, card fees and the owner's pay.
- The local marketing commitment is $48,000 a year, flat. That is 15.8% of the average studio's sales and 27.7% of the bottom quarter's.
- The brand and its required marketing take 17.4% of sales at the top quartile and 35.6% at the bottom. That is $80,165 against $61,735, on sales of $459,507 and $173,537.
- The four company studios bill $496,251 against $304,317 across 206 franchised studios. That is 63.1% more, with a median of $538,774 against $295,870.
- Wages alone are 42.7% of the average studio's sales. That is $129,852, ranging from $16,992 to $271,596 across 126 reporting studios.
How much does an Exercise Coach franchise make?
The average Exercise Coach unit reported $304,317 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $295,870. The brand’s disclosure document discloses revenue and not profit, so what an owner keeps depends on the cost structure set out below. Fees come off the top first, at about 7% of sales across royalty, brand fund and the rest of the stack. Revenue is not income. Rent, wages, cost of goods and the franchise fees all come out before an owner is paid. The figures for the highest-selling and lowest-selling businesses are below.
Sales
Sales by quartile, franchised and company studios, 2025
| Group | Studios | Average | Median | Highest | Lowest | At or above the average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| quartile 1 | 52 | $459,507 | $431,623 | $734,007 | $361,976 | 18 / 35% |
| quartile 2 | 52 | $326,912 | $326,293 | $361,659 | $294,808 | 26 / 50% |
| quartile 3 | 51 | $253,825 | $252,102 | $294,074 | $216,692 | 25 / 49% |
| quartile 4 | 51 | $173,537 | $182,018 | $215,502 | $108,786 | 31 / 61% |
| All franchised | 206 | $304,317 | $295,870 | $734,007 | $108,786 | 91 / 44% |
| Company-owned | 4 | $496,251 | $538,774 | $660,765 | $246,692 | 2 / 50% |
As the brand reported it.
The top quartile averages 2.65 times the bottom. That is $459,507 against $173,537. The single studio range is 6.75 times, from $734,007 to $108,786. But the groups themselves are narrow. The second and third quartiles differ by $66,851 and $77,382 between their own highest and lowest studios. A small-format studio produces a predictable number.
In the bottom quartile, 61% of studios beat their own average. That is 31 of 51, 61%, against 35% in the top quartile. Its median of $182,018 sits above its $173,537 average, so a handful of very low-selling studios (the minimum is $108,786) pull that group down.
The four company studios bill 63.1% more than the franchised average. That is $496,251 against $304,317, and their median of $538,774 is 82% above the franchised median of $295,870. Four studios is too few to draw a rule from. But the direction is the same one the first-quarter figures show and the same one most brands in this library report.
The first quarter of 2026 annualizes to $322,728, up 6.0%. Franchised studios billed $80,682 on average in that quarter against a full-year 2025 average of $304,317. The company studios annualize to $557,408, up 12.3%. Both are single quarters, and a fitness concept's first quarter has a seasonal advantage the rest of the year has to live down.
Strength Plus program results
| Group | Studios | Q1 2026 | Q1 2025 | Change * | 2025 full year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franchised | 56 | $110,174 | $99,017 | +11.3% | $391,361 |
| Company-owned | 4 | $139,352 | $133,906 | +4.1% | $496,251 |
| Combined | 60 | $112,119 | $101,343 | +10.6% | $398,354 |
Sales figures as the brand reported it; the change column is marked *.
The 60 Strength Plus studios had a 2025 baseline 30.9% above the franchised average. That is $398,354 against $304,317, before the program could have done much, since 33 of them started during 2025 and 27 had yet to start. So the +10.6% first-quarter move describes what happened at a self-selected group of studios billing 30.9% above the franchised average.
The franchised group moved 11.3% and the company group 4.1%. The company studios had run the pilot through 2024, so they had already banked whatever gain was available. That contrast is the most useful thing in these two tables: the lift appears where the program is new and flattens where it is established.
Top performers
What separates the top Exercise Coach performers
The Exercise Coach splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The top group averaged $459,507 a year. The lowest averaged $173,537. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees. The middle location sold $295,870. The average was $304,317. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.
Decided before you open
- Site and trade area.The top band sells 2.6× the bottom band. Catchment, daytime population and neighboring businesses affect where a location falls.
- Capacity.Capacity is the floor space, times the hours it is open, times how full it runs. The build sets how much you can sell.
- Territory.The Exercise Coach sells each studio a territory of at least 5,000 qualified households.
- Opening cost range.Opening costs $262,735 to $481,369, a 1.8× range inside one brand.
- Fees and the minimum.Fees run about 7.0% of sales. A minimum fee also applies, so lower-selling locations pay a higher effective rate. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum.
Live operating levers
- Membership drives the model.Track how many members join, how many cancel, and what each member spends beyond the plan.
- Service and retail mix.Retail sales and the share of customers on higher service tiers raise revenue per hour without adding hours or rooms.
Context you underwrite around
- Locations included.These figures cover 206 of 217 locations. Locations open less than the full year, brand-owned, or not meeting the reporting criteria are excluded.
- What the filing does not include.The Exercise Coach’s Item 19 publishes four cost lines for 126 franchised studios but no profit figure. Ask current owners for the remaining costs.
Fees and what it costs to open
Royalty and marketing costs
| Group | Gross sales | Royalty | Brand fund at 1% | Local marketing commitment | Total | Share of sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| quartile 1 | $459,507 | $27,570 | $4,595 | $48,000 | $80,165 | 17.4% |
| quartile 2 | $326,912 | $19,615 | $3,269 | $48,000 | $70,884 | 21.7% |
| All franchised | $304,317 | $18,259 | $3,043 | $48,000 | $69,302 | 22.8% |
| quartile 3 | $253,825 | $15,230 | $2,538 | $48,000 | $65,768 | 25.9% |
| quartile 4 | $173,537 | $12,000 | $1,735 | $48,000 | $61,735 | 35.6% |
Ours, built from the filed rates: a royalty of the greater of 6% of gross sales or $1,000 a month, waived for the first full or partial month after opening. It also charges a 1% brand fund fee with no voting rights attached. It also sets a local marketing commitment of $4,000 a month once the grand opening period ends, and brand fund fees and grand opening spend give no credit against it.
The $48,000 marketing commitment is the largest brand-related cost at every quartile. It is bigger than the royalty everywhere, and at the bottom quartile it is four times the royalty. It is also entirely flat: the same $4,000 a month lands on a studio billing $108,786 and one billing $734,007. That single term accounts for why the all-in rate runs 17.4% to 35.6% on identical contract terms.
The $1,000 monthly royalty minimum binds on any studio below $200,000 of sales. That covers most of the bottom quartile, which averages $173,537. Those studios pay $12,000 against $10,412 at the 6% rate, $1,588 more, which is small beside the marketing commitment but points the same way.
At the average studio the brand and its marketing take $69,302 against $91,760 left after the four disclosed cost lines. But $48,000 of the $69,302 is the marketing commitment, which is already inside the $37,831 marketing line plus the affiliate digital fee. Read cleanly: of the $91,760 remaining after marketing, wages, rent and utilities, the royalty and brand fund take $21,302. That leaves $70,458 for technology, insurance, card fees, supplies, repairs, professional fees and the owner.
Cost to open a studio
| Item | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $49,500 | $49,500 |
| Initial training fee | $5,000 | $5,000 |
| Training expenses | $1,500 | $10,000 |
| Lease review legal fees | $3,500 | $5,000 |
| Lease deposit and three months' rent | $8,000 | $24,000 |
| Utility deposits | $100 | $1,000 |
| Construction | $0 | $85,000 |
| Signage | $2,300 | $8,000 |
| Decorating, furniture and furnishings | $4,200 | $6,315 |
| Equipment package | $106,540 | $156,089 |
| Technology systems | $2,850 | $6,850 |
| First aid equipment | $1,350 | $2,100 |
| Opening inventory | $2,550 | $4,250 |
| Uniforms | $600 | $1,000 |
| Grand opening marketing commitment | $29,195 | $43,275 |
| Business licenses | $250 | $750 |
| Professional fees | $4,000 | $5,240 |
| Insurance | $800 | $1,500 |
| Pre-opening wages | $10,000 | $20,000 |
| Surety bond premium | $500 | $1,500 |
| Additional funds, first three months | $30,000 | $45,000 |
| Total | $262,735 | $481,369 |
As the brand reported it.
Discounts available
- The Exercise Coach takes 10% off the initial fee for qualified (honorably discharged) U.S. veterans, bringing it to $44,550.
- Under an area development agreement, The Exercise Coach charges $40,000 for the second studio, $25,000 each for the third and fourth, and $20,000 for the fifth and each one after.
From Item 5 of the The Exercise Coach 2026 FDD. The costs on this page use the full initial franchise fee for one unit, before any discount.
The equipment package is $106,540 to $156,089, 41% to 32% of the whole build. It is bought from one designated supplier, with a range of $49,549. Construction swings from $0 to $85,000, which is the other half of the variability. A studio taking a second-generation space with usable fit-out can open near the bottom of the range.
The build costs 0.86 to 1.58 times an average studio's annual sales. That is $262,735 to $481,369 against $304,317. At bottom-quarter sales of $173,537 the low-end build is 1.51 years of revenue and the high end 2.77. For a format this small, the capital is the real constraint.
Grand opening marketing is carried at $29,195 to $43,275 against a stated $15,000 requirement. The requirement covers the 90 days after opening. The investment table's figure is roughly double to triple it. That suggests the franchisor expects real spending before opening as well. At $4,000 a month thereafter, a studio's first full year of marketing commitment reaches $65,195 to $79,275.
The cost lines
Operating expenses at reporting studios, 2025
| Line | Average | Median | Highest | Lowest | Share of $304,317 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wages | $129,852 | $124,032 | $271,596 | $16,992 | 42.7% |
| Rent | $39,846 | $38,172 | $80,400 | $14,400 | 13.1% |
| Marketing | $37,831 | $36,618 | $81,000 | $12,000 | 12.4% |
| Utilities | $5,028 | $4,686 | $12,336 | $600 | 1.7% |
| All four * | $212,557 | n/a | n/a | n/a | 69.8% |
| What remains * | $91,760 | n/a | n/a | n/a | 30.2% |
The four expense rows are as the brand reported it for the 126 reporting studios. Those are qualifying studios that answered the franchisor's annual expense survey. They reported monthly averages that the franchisor multiplied by twelve.
Wages are 42.7% of sales and run from $16,992 to $271,596. That is a sixteen-fold range across 126 studios, wider than sales, rent or marketing. The $16,992 end is roughly one part-time coach; the $271,596 end is a fully staffed studio. In a coached format, where a session needs a person in the room, that line is the operating model.
What remains after these four lines is 30.2% of sales, before the royalty, the brand fund and card fees. That is $91,760 at the average studio, against which sit the royalty, the brand fund, credit card fees, about $3,800 of insurance, all technology and software fees, the $720 water filtration lease, supplies, repairs, professional fees, phone and travel. Only then comes the owner’s own pay.
Marketing is 12.4% of sales, $37,831. The required commitment is $4,000 a month. Add the $790 monthly digital marketing fee paid to the franchisor's affiliate ($9,480 a year, which the reported marketing figure appears to exclude) and the total reaches $47,311 against a $48,000 requirement. The two reconcile within $689, which suggests studios are meeting the commitment almost exactly and treating it as a ceiling.
Retail against non-retail sites
| Line | Retail, 71 studios | Non-retail, 55 studios | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rent | $42,591 | $36,302 | +$6,289 |
| Utilities | $5,893 | $3,912 | +$1,981 |
| Wages | $127,254 | $133,206 | −$5,952 |
| Marketing | $37,325 | $38,484 | −$1,159 |
| All four * | $213,063 | $211,904 | +$1,159 |
The four expense rows are as the brand reported it for each subset; the difference column and the total row are marked *.
A retail site costs $8,270 more in rent and utilities and saves $7,111 in wages and marketing. The two almost cancel: $213,063 against $211,904, a difference of $1,159 on a $212,000 cost base. Given that the franchisor says location leaves sales largely unchanged, the choice between a shopping center and an office park is close to economically neutral in this format, so the decision can be made on operational grounds.
Non-retail studios spend $5,952 more on wages. That is 4.7% more, and whether that is longer staffed hours covering for absent foot traffic or simply a different labor market is an open question. Either way, it is why the rent saving fails to reach the bottom line.
The network of locations
Studios opened and closed, 2023 to 2025
| Year | Start | Opened | Terminations | End | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 166 | 28 | 3 | 191 | +25 |
| 2024 | 191 | 28 | 8 | 211 | +20 |
| 2025 | 211 | 11 | 5 | 217 | +6 |
As the brand reported it.
Openings fell from 28 to 11 while terminations held near five. Net growth went +25, +20, +6. The system is still growing, and the pace of new units has dropped by 61% in a single year. That is the number to ask the franchisor about directly, because it is the sharpest signal in the outlet tables.
The Exercise Coach recorded 67 openings against 16 terminations across three years. Four studios arrive for every one that leaves, and the network has grown 31% from 166 to 217. Every departure is a termination, which is an unusually clean record to read.
18 signed agreements sit unopened against 17 projected openings. That is almost one for one, the tightest pipeline-to-projection ratio in this library, where most brands have three or four times their projection. The franchisor is projecting to convert nearly everything it has sold.
What territory you get
Your territory holds at least 5,000 households earning $120,000 or more. The franchisor defines it in whatever manner it deems appropriate, using whatever data source it chooses, provided the qualified household count is met at the time of designation.
The franchisor has no obligation to adjust the territory as households change. It also reserves the right to redraw it at renewal under its then-current guidelines. Relocation needs prior written approval, which the franchisor will refrain from unreasonably withholding. A move costs a $2,500 fee, removal of all trade dress from the old site and reopening within 30 days. It may also need a fresh grand opening campaign.
Questions we get asked
Questions owners ask.
How much does The Exercise Coach franchise make?
The Exercise Coach franchisees averaged $304,317 of sales in 2025, with a median of $295,870, according to Item 19 of The Exercise Coach’s 2026 FDD, issued 20 April 2026. The 206 in that group are 95%* of The Exercise Coach’s 217 locations. Fees paid to The Exercise Coach come to about 7%* of sales.
What should an Exercise Coach studio be billing?
The 206 franchised studios trading all of 2025 averaged $304,317 with a median of $295,870, ranging from $108,786 to $734,007. By quartile, The Exercise Coach locations averaged $459,507, $326,912, $253,825 and $173,537. The four company-owned studios averaged $496,251. In the first quarter of 2026 franchised studios billed $80,682, which annualizes to $322,728.
What does an Exercise Coach studio cost to run?
The Exercise Coach discloses four cost lines across 126 studios: wages at $129,852, rent at $39,846, marketing at $37,831 and utilities at $5,028. Together they are $212,557, or 69.8% of the average studio’s sales. Outside them sit owner compensation, royalty, credit card fees, insurance of about $3,800, all software and technology fees, a $720 water filtration lease, supplies, repairs, professional fees, phone, travel and uniforms. So 30.2% remains before any of those.
What does The Exercise Coach cost a franchisee each year?
The royalty is the greater of 6% of gross sales or $1,000 a month, a 1% brand fund fee. A local marketing commitment of $4,000 a month ($48,000 a year) once the grand opening period ends. The $790 monthly digital marketing fee to the franchisor's affiliate is credited against that commitment. All in, that is 17.4% of sales at the top quartile and 35.6% at the bottom. The marketing commitment is the larger part of it at every level.
Does a retail location perform better at The Exercise Coach?
The franchisor states that location leaves gross sales largely unchanged, and the cost comparison is close to neutral. An Exercise Coach retail site costs $6,289 more in rent and $1,981 more in utilities, and it spends $5,952 less on wages and $1,159 less on marketing. That is $213,063 against $211,904 across the four disclosed lines, a difference of $1,159. So the choice between a shopping center and an office or industrial space can be made on operational grounds.
Who does bookkeeping for an Exercise Coach franchise?
The shape of the close is obvious: report wages, rent, marketing and utilities in a fixed format so they benchmark directly against $129,852, $39,846, $37,831 and $5,028, then show everything else as a separate block. That block is where an owner’s actual profit is decided, because those four lines already account for 69.8% of sales. Two mechanics need watching. The royalty is the greater of 6% or $1,000 a month, so a studio under $200,000 of sales should model the minimum. And gross sales include the full retail value of comped sessions given to friends and family beyond ten a month. So a generous studio can owe royalty on revenue that stayed uncollected, worth a monthly check against the comp report. Averan provides bookkeeping, controller, and fractional CFO support for franchise owners and has Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors on the team.
- The filing gives no profit figure. The filing reports sales and not earnings, so what an owner keeps is not disclosed.
Questions worth putting to The Exercise Coach
These are questions the The Exercise Coach filing leaves open. An owner or a buyer can put them to The Exercise Coach directly.
- What do locations at the median spend on wages and rent as a share of sales? The filing reports sales only.
- Which factors does The Exercise Coach see in its highest-selling locations, such as trade area, years open and size?
- How long does a new location take to reach the average you publish, and what does the build-up look like month by month?
- At what level of sales do the minimum charges stop applying and the percentage take over?
- How many Exercise Coach locations closed, were sold, or changed hands last year, and why?
Run your own numbers.
The Franchise Numbers Check runs the same checks on your own numbers. It scores where you stand and compares you with Item 19 of your brand’s FDD. It works out what one location earns and spends, and builds a 13-week cash forecast. Checks whether you are ready to open another one. It is free and it runs in your browser.
Launch the diagnostic →What is left after the four lines at The Exercise Coach?
We review your unit economics, cash forecast and reporting, built around the costs the four headline lines leave out.
Talk to AveranWhere these figures come from.
Every figure here comes from Exercise Coach USA, LLC's 2026 FDD, covering the 2025 calendar year and the first quarter of 2026. The document is unaudited by us. The sales figures come from the franchisor's business intelligence software and the expense figures from a franchisee survey annualized from monthly averages. We are unaffiliated with the brand. The figures describe past performance at other studios. Calculations of our own are labeled where they appear. The four disclosed expense lines exclude royalty, technology, insurance, card fees, supplies, repairs, professional fees and all owner compensation. This page is an educational summary and is not legal or tax advice. The EXERCISE COACH® is a registered trademark of its owner. How Averan reads a Franchise Disclosure Document.
These figures come from the brand's disclosure. They are not a forecast, an offer to sell a franchise or advice. Source: Exercise Coach USA, LLC, 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, issued 20 April 2026.
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Questions owners ask next
The figures above raise these, and each one is answered on its own page.
- At what level of sales does a minimum fee stop costing me more than the percentage?It works out the sales level where a minimum fee stops applying.
- How much cash do I fund before a new location covers its own costs?It builds a 13-week forecast for the months before break-even.
- My payroll percentage keeps climbing. Is that a payroll problem?It shows how to tell whether payroll is rising or revenue is falling.
- What should I be looking at every week?It lists the handful of numbers that move before the P&L does.
- Do I need a bookkeeper, a controller, or a CFO?It explains what each role owns and when the next hire pays for itself.